Coates is CEO of Mindful Money.

Analysis conducted by Mindful Money reveals that of the $98 billion of KiwiSaver investments, a substantial $8.6 billion (8.9%) is now allocated to unethical stocks.

This figure has increased from 7.2% in 2019, marking a concerning uptick.

Coates pointed out that while the recent surge in fossil fuel prices has prompted significant investments in this sector, passive investment strategies and the greater use of external index funds share the blame.

Many passive funds are channelling money into oil and gas companies that are expanding fossil fuel exploration and production.

Mindful Money has categorised fossil fuel companies into those transitioning to renewables, those expanding their fossil fuel operations and those taking no action. Investments in companies transitioning to renewable energy have remained stagnant as a percentage of KiwiSaver.

"One of the biggest investments in this area is Contact Energy, but for other companies on a renewable pathway, it is not significant.

"Meanwhile, investments in expanding companies like Exxon, Chevron, BP and Shell have more than doubled to reach $3.2 billion over the past eighteen months," says Coates.

Greater transparency needed

Despite claims that stewardship and shareholder voting can drive positive change, Coates argues that this approach often lacks credibility.

He acknowledges that increasing efforts in screening and engagement may result in higher fees.

The issue, however, isn't solely about active versus passive management.

Coates emphasises the importance of the type of passive investment, with some index providers offering stronger exclusions.

Beyond fossil fuels, KiwiSaver investments include

• $2 billion in companies that test products on animals for reasons other than human health,
• $1.4 billion in companies breaching human rights, and
• over $1 billion in companies causing social harm such as alcohol, pornography, gambling and tobacco.

It is now eight years since there was a public outcry over the amount of KiwiSaver funds in tobacco.

The latest data shows an annual growth of 50% in investments in tobacco companies such as Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, to more than $21 million.

Coates is calling for greater transparency within KiwiSaver schemes.

He is urging providers to disclose the full list of invested companies, especially those that might concern the public.

While other consumer product industries are aware of their customers' concerns, he says the investment sector appears to be an outlier.

A recent survey found that 74% of New Zealanders expect their money to be managed ethically and responsibly.

"The issue for financial advisers and fund managers is who's going to listen to the clients?

"There is evidence that clients don't always raise it proactively in meetings with their advisers but if and when it is raised they have very strong views.

"It's an age of climate change, and investment has a huge role to play, but somehow advisers and fund managers are carrying on as if there is no link," Coates suggests.

Sources

Good Returns

Interest

CathNews New Zealand

"Harm from gambling is already at unacceptable levels in this country and increasing availability and new products through this Bill will only add to this problem," says Siobhan Kemp, Public Health Worker of The Salvation Army's Oasis Auckland service.

The focus should be on controlling the growth of gambling and preventing and minimising the harm that already exists from gambling addiction, not seeking new opportunities to gamble with the associated risks to people and whanau. Read more

That was $49m higher than last year, but once inflation and population growth were taken into account it was a slight decrease on the previous financial year. Continue reading

Market expectations were for a normalised net profit of $162 million. Continue reading

The Dolphin Treasure pokie sits on a bench in Charles Livingstone's office at Monash University in Melbourne, too heavy for even two people to move and emblazoned with gaudy dolphins swimming merrily over a treasure chest.

Despite its location in the furthermost corner of the room, it's impossible to miss.

"From my observations of gaming floors I notice a lot of middle-aged and older women playing it, patting the dolphins and their little fins," says Livingstone, who has dedicated his career to studying the harms of pokie addiction.

"They seem to be attracted to the cute icons and graphics.

"One time late at night at a bar in regional Victoria, I saw a lady who was hugging the machine in a very affectionate manner. Research has shown there are some people who tend to anthropomorphise poker machines."

The Dolphin Treasure poker machine, with its brightly coloured sea creatures, is the focus of a landmark legal case brought by Shonica Guy against Crown Casino and the poker machine manufacturer Aristocrat Technologies.

Guy started playing the pokies when she was 17 and she says she lost thousands of dollars over 14 years.

She is being represented pro bono by Maurice Blackburn lawyers.

The case has been unfolding in the federal court in Melbourne over the past two-and-a-half weeks before Justice Debra Mortimer, with Guy's lawyers arguing that Aristocrat and Crown are engaging in deceptive, misleading and unconscionable conduct by providing Dolphin Treasure poker machines to the public.

The case hinges on the Dolphin Treasure machine because researchers such as Livingstone know more about how, Guy argues, it sets up people for addiction than any other machine on gaming floors in Australia.

Guy's lawyers are not seeking damages - rather, they want poker machines to be designed fairly and for players to be genuinely informed about their prospects of winning. Continue reading

Sources

• The Guardian, article by Melissa Davey, Melbourne bureau chief for the Guardian.
• Image: Latitude News

In days gone by, for many families, a lunch at the local club wasn't complete until the adult diners had lightened their pockets with a flutter on the pokies.

Affectionately known as "one-armed bandits", the mechanical devices devoured spare change of any size and occasionally rewarded players when a bunch of coins clattered back into the tray.

These days, poker machines are an entirely different beast. And an unsuspecting Australian public is far worse off because of it.

Australia is home to 20% of the world's poker machines, and the Australian Government estimates that 600,000 people play the pokies every week, with 40% of them addicted.

Whereas the old-style pokies had winning odds of about one in 8000, their modern electronic counterparts often only cough up a major prize once in every 10 million - or more - hits.

The repercussions of problem gambling

Australians lose more money per capita to gambling than any other nationality in the world, says The Economist, with $20 billion dollars going down the gambling gurgler every year. Of that, $11 billion is swallowed up by poker machines.

If losing all of that money isn't enough of a problem, gamblers and their families lose in many other ways as well: the Australian Gambling Research Centre says that gambling problems affect a gambler's intimate relationships with partners, children, parents, siblings and grandparents.

Research has also identified an association between problem gambling and the rate of family violence, and has also shown that the children of parents who have a gambling problem are at a much higher risk of becoming problem gamblers themselves.

To top things off, local businesses miss out on much-needed revenue when it is instead being fed to electronic machines in large clubs and gaming venues. Continue reading

Sources

• Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, social justice law firm article in The Guardian
• Image: The Guardian

Stacy thought that her husband was off to a job interview followed by an appointment with his therapist. Instead, he drove the 22 miles from their home in Steubenville, Ohio, to the Mountaineer Casino, just outside New Cumberland, West Virginia.

He used the casino ATM to check his bank-account balance: $13,400. He walked across the casino floor to his favorite slot machine in the high-limit area: Triple Stars, a three-reel game that cost $10 a spin. Maybe this time it would pay out enough to save him.

It didn't. He spent the next four hours burning through $13,000 from the account, plugging any winnings back into the machine, until he had only $4,000 left. Around noon, he gave up.

Stevens, 52, left the casino and wrote a five-page letter to Stacy. A former chief operating officer at Louis Berkman Investment, he gave her careful financial instructions that would enable her to avoid responsibility for his losses and keep her credit intact: She was to deposit the enclosed check for $4,000; move her funds into a new checking account; decline to pay the money he owed the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas; disregard his credit-card debt (it was in his name alone); file her tax returns; and sign up for Social Security survivor benefits. He asked that she have him cremated.

He wrote that he was "crying like a baby" as he thought about how much he loved her and their three daughters. "Our family only has a chance if I'm not around to bring us down any further," he wrote. "I'm so sorry that I'm putting you through this." Continue reading

Sources

• The Atlantic, article by John Rosengren, the author of eight books, including Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes.
• Image: Sky Bet 888

The Catholic Church, along with the National Council of Churches in Singapore said it is "deeply concerned" that the Government is sending "confusing and conflicting signals" with the partial lifting of the ban on online gambling.

It appealed for the Government to review the move.

Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club will be allowed to offer online services from next month.

In a pastoral letter to Catholics in Singapore, Archbishop William Goh wrote that the Church remains concerned about the possible ill-effects of a "gambling culture that could grip Singaporeans".

He added that the Church has appealed to the authorities to closely monitor the effectiveness of the various safeguards put in place.

For instance, only those aged 21 and above are able to open player accounts have to be implemented.

Punters are not allowed to gamble on credit.

They also must set daily funding and gambling limits.

"The Catholic Church appreciates that the Government has done its due diligence to ensure that stringent measures are put in place to minimise the ill-effects of online gambling," Archbishop Goh wrote.

"We also recognise that the authorities have taken pains to consult, clarify and assure us that this move to allow restricted access to online gambling operators and their services is one that has been taken only after careful study of the environment and in consideration of the greater good of society.

"Given that there is no way to totally eradicate illegal gambling online - and the risks such a move could have on the moral integrity and fabric of our society - we also recognise the Government's dilemma in tackling this highly sensitive and controversial issue that continues to plague modern society."

Goh said the Catholic Church has asked for more regular consultation and updates on the consequences of the Remote Gambling Act.

Source

• ChannelNews Asia
• Image: AsiaNews

About seven or eight families who belong to St. Joseph's Chaldean Catholic Church gave Father Amer Saka the money to safeguard for refugees who were due to arrive in Canada, according to Bishop Emanuel Shelato, head of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Canada.

"They deposited it for their loved ones [and] he was supposed to return it when their relatives came," Shelato told the Toronto Sun newspaper.

"They did not give this money as a donation for their church. Those people are upset now that money is not there anymore," he said. "They trusted him, this money was not for him. It was to be given back to the refugees."

Continue Reading

A flyer on a door of San Martino church in Cigola near Brescia announced the move.

"We all know we need help," read the flyer.

"So with a smile and without making givers uncomfortable or inviting the moralising of theologians, we're willing to give this a shot."

The church's decision has been motivated by its need to find funds to maintain its nursery while repairing the church's roof and oratory.

Continue reading

Last year 49 children under 14 were left unattended by their parents at the casino's central city site, including in its vast underground car park. The figure for 2011 was 42.

The numbers are revealed in the company's Host Responsibility report to the Gambling Commission, outlining operations at the casino for the 12 months to December 31. Continue reading

SkyCity is to build a $402 million centre in central Auckland in exchange for an extension of its casino license and being allowed to operate more gaming machines and tables.

The bill allowing the deal to go ahead passed its first reading last month and is now before a select committee. Continue Reading

In its original form, the Bill would have required gaming machine proceeds to be solely distributed locally.

It would also have forced machine operators to track players and provide pre-paid cards.

But these provisions were scrapped during the select-committee stage, to ensure the Government would support the bill.

The Justice & Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland has expressed deep concern that the original version of the Bill has not been passed by Parliament.

The Commission considers that unless the Government follows through with effective regulations to replace important parts of the bill that were removed in the Committee stage, then this law will not live up to its title.

"We understand the Government intends to consult with industry and community stakeholders before making regulations."

"The Commission calls on the Government to keep as a paramount consideration promotion of the common good, bearing in mind the hundreds of millions lost in machine gambling each year, mostly in our poorest towns and suburbs."

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Auckland Catholic Justice & Peace Commission
• Image: Family First

Whether Pacific people gambled was largely influenced by their church, and whether the denomination endorsed gambling or not, researchers found.

Additionally, the study found that New Zealand offered more gambling opportunities and more free time than Pacific countries, and many study participants viewed gambling as an easy way to make money.

The study, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and carried out by AUT University, found a lack of gambling opportunities in Pacific Island countries, as well as cultural and religious views, influenced people's attitudes and behaviour.

About 100,000 of New Zealand's 4.3 million residents is a problem gambler and Pacific islanders are the most at-risk ethnic group to develop problem or pathological gambling behaviours. Pasifika peoples are four times more likely to be a problem gambler than any other ethnic group.

Source

• TVNZ
• Island Business
• Image: teachingamsam

The National Radio report said that a commissioner with the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church, Seamus Donegan, told the New Zealand International Convention Centre Select Committee he would rather see people gamble at the SkyCity casino, where problem gambling is monitored, than at racetracks and pubs.

Garrick said Donegan, "was speaking to the Select Committee today in his capacity as Convenor of the Social Hazards Committee of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland. He is not a spokesperson for the Catholic Church and did not describe or introduce himself as such."

"Some of the views reported as being expressed by Seamus Donegan are not those of the Justice and Peace Commission or the Catholic church," he said.

" It is true that Catholic church teaching is that games of chance are not in themselves contrary to justice BUT games of chance are morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for their needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement."

• Because the situation in Auckland is that some families with problem gamblers are being deprived of what is needed for food, rent, medical help and other necessities, problem gambling is of deep concern, as is the availability of gambling venues and any proposed increase in gambling opportunities;
• The Commission does not take a position that gambling at one venue over another is preferred;
• One of the main concerns of this submission was our strong objection to the automatic extension of the Sky City licence:

"In summary the potential for gambling harm is being increased and the opportunity to study the extent of that harm and test whether the casino is a net benefit is being put off for 27 years."

Written Submission:

This submission is made by the Social Hazards Committee of the Justice & Peace Commission for the Auckland Diocese of the Catholic Church ("the Committee")

The Catholic Church does not regard gambling per se as morally wrong. Provided those involved are playing with stakes that do not eat into money needed to discharge their responsibilities to themselves and others, gambling is an acceptable form of recreation.

However when people gamble to excess, that is to say, gamble with money that is needed for other purposes, it becomes morally wrong. People who become so obsessed by gambling that they are unable to prevent themselves form gambling with funds required to support themselves and others dependent on them or to meet their financial obligations are problem gamblers. It is also morally wrong for any organisations to knowingly exploit people with a gambling problem. These organisations have an obligation to the community in which they do business to identify and assist those patrons of their facility who have a ‘gambling problem'.

The potential for harm from gambling has long since been recognised by governments in New Zealand and safeguards have been built into New Zealand Law. In this regard Governments have always had to balance:

(a) Freedom of the public to engage in a legitimate form of recreation;

(b) Freedom for enterprises involved in gambling to engage in an activity that is considered legitimate;

(c) Achieving the economic benefits from having casinos, race tracks etc;

(d) Avoiding or reducing as far as practicable, the harmful effects of ‘problem gambling'.

Increase in the number of Automated Gambling Machines.

The Committee does not regard increase in the absolute number of machines as particularly significant as it apprehends that that the number of people in the casino currently never exceeds the number of machines available and therefore an increase in the number of machines does not automatically cause an increase in machine gambling.

Concessions that may exacerbate problem gambling

The Committee considers that there are features of the regulatory concessions which have the potential to exacerbate the harmful effects of problem gambling, which ‘enable' problem gambling:

1. A concession allowing 17% of single terminal gaming machines (i.e. ‘pokie' machines) and automated multi player tables (e.g. computerised roulette & black jack tables) accepting $100 notes (currently restricted to $20)("plus $20 concession")
2. Introduction of ticket in ticket out technology and card based cashless gambling with stored value limits of $1,000.00. ("TITO concession")

What these concessions achieve is eliminating ‘breaks' in machine gambling and disconnecting cash from the gambling process. This directly enables problem gamblers, eliminating tools for habit control.

At present it is not possible to measure what the effects of these concessions will be.

Extension of the Venue License to 2048

The Catholic Church also teaches that a function of government is to pursue the common good, which in the words of Blessed Pope John Paul II refers to:

"the good of all and of each individual, because we are all responsible for all".

The common good includes promoting our economic well being, which comes from job creation including that driven by tourist spending. The common good also includes protecting people in our community who have gambling problems from causing harm to themselves and those who are affected by their problem including, their families, their employers, and their creditors and the potential victims of crime driven by gambling addictions.

From the beginning of New Zealand's legal casino regime, successive governments have sort a achieve a ‘net benefit' for the community by striking the right balance between allowing the tourism/job benefits of casinos and minimising the harm of problem gambling. The 2003 Act recognised that checking the balance is right and the net benefit has been realised, was built into the licensing regime. The sky City venue license runs for 25 years and currently expires in 2021. To obtain a renewal, the current act requires sky city to apply for a renewal this will involve:

(a) The production of an independent impact report (to be paid for by Sky City);

(b) The involvement of local government, including possibly conducting a regional poll or referendum on whether the Casino should continue; and

(c) A public hearing process.

The Bill extends the license to 2048. If the bill is passed in its current form, Sky City will avoid renewal applications in 2021 and 2036. ("the License Extension")

In summary the potential for gambling harm is being increased and the opportunity to study the extent of that harm and test whether the casino is a net benefit is being put off for 27 years.

Our position

Providing employment is a social good and our Committee do not think it is desirable to stop the construction of the Convention Centre.

If the real trade off here is to increase the potential for gambling harm through regulatory concessions in exchange for the benefits of a Convention Centre, that can only be justified if a net benefit is achieved. The Government is morally obligated to Aucklanders to test that this benefit has been achieved. It can best do this by:

(a) keeping the license renewal dates

(b) stipulating that the independent impact report must give appropriate weight to the convention centre in determining whether the ‘net benefit' is achieved.

A more appropriate concession would be to define the venue for the purposes of renewal of the license to include not only the casino but also all ancillary activities of Sky City including the convention centre.

If the level of ‘harm' caused by problem gambling (including harm driven by the regulatory concessions now proposed) does not outweigh the benefits of the Casino and the Convention Centre, which by 2021, could be measured the license ought to be renewed, if not then the regulatory concessions identified above should be revoked.

Making the concessions identified above and avoiding any study of their effects and renewal process for the license is not consistent with the government's obligations to the community.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• The Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Auckland Catholic Justice and Peace Commission
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

Under a deal with the Government, the casino operator will build a $400 million centre in Auckland in exchange for a 27-year extension to its licence and the right to have an extra 230 pokies and up to 52 more gaming tables.

The Government estimates the centre will create jobs and boost both Auckland and the country's economy including tourism revenue by about $90 million a year.

But the chair of Auckland's Pacific advisory panel, Uesifili Unasa, says the MPs should break ranks because the deal will harm their communities.

"Problem gambling is a big issue in Pacific communities. It's a no-brainer in terms of the right thing to do - and that is to vote against the SkyCity bill."

The head of the Tongan council also urged the MPs to rethink their vote. Melino Maka said the casino is already a magnet for problem gamblers from Pacific communities and it would be devastating if the deal goes ahead.

The Presbyterian Church has also expressed its concern. Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Rt Rev Ray Coster, says that the Church does not accept the argument that the financial contributions pokie machines make to community activities justify their existence.

"This legislation will simply mean that more families and more communities will suffer the corrosive effects of problem gambling... The social and financial cost to problem gamblers, their loved ones and the wider community, in our view, outweighs the economic benefit derived from the planned construction of the new convention centre."

Source:

• Radio New Zealand
• voxy.co.nz
• Image: 3news.co.nz

Once those debts are paid off, all gambling would be outlawed, the bill states.

The Catholic Church on Guam said its main concern about gambling is the effect it will have on the island's society and its families.

"When people lose money ... many problems occur," said Father Adrian Cristobal.

Cristobal said the Catholic Church is strongly against gambling, having banned bingo and raffles in the church and Catholic private schools.

Cristobal declined to comment when asked what should happen to local nonprofit groups that benefit from gambling revenue.

Cristobal said he is in not in a position to make a statement on behalf of the Catholic Church with regard to the nonprofit issue.

Source

• guampdm.com
• guampdm.com

Pub Charity chief executive Martin Cheer said a submission by an Anglican body seeking Pokie reform was a factor in the rejection.

In a later statement Pub Charity said it "suspended funding to Anglican Church based organisations following statements made by the Anglican Bishop of Auckland, reported in April 2012, that ‘the Church refused to take any funding from pokie machines - a decision which had shut down access to a large pool of funding'."

The Auckland Anglican Diocese can no longer have access to Pub Charity funding because it is a requirement that every application being considered by Pub Charity contain a certified resolution of the applicant's governing body that it supports the application.

However, The Anglican Bishop of Auckland, Ross Bay, says he was only speaking for Auckland and not for the church nationally.

Cheer rejects the church's position allowing independence to member groups to apply for pokie funding. He has written to the Anglican leadership group demanding it take a position nationally on the issue.

He said the refusal to do so - while still making applications - highlighted the church's hypocrisy and leadership failures. "You can't have it both ways. You can't actively campaign to get rid of something then apply for money from it." He later modified his remarks.

Organisations not familiar with the way the institutional churches are structured find it difficult to understand that each diocese is an autonomous body and that they operate independently.

The Anglican Church is led by the General Synod which allows freedom to linked organisations to make their own decisions on many ethical areas - including applying for gaming funding.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• The New Zealand Herald
• Scoop
• 3News
• parliament.nz
• SeanPlunketFaceBook
• Image: The Guardian

"Gambling is optional. It is a matter of a person's choice," he said.

"There is no specific teachings of the [Catholic] church with regards to gambling," says Father Ioane. "There are other forms of gambling which members of the church use for fundraising purposes like bingo for instance.

"As far as we're concerned, there are no teachings of the Catholic Church against gambling. There is no specific teaching that the Catholic Church is against gambling."

Last year, senior Catholic Deacon Kasiano Le'aupepe, speaking in his role of head of the the National Council of Churches (NCC), said "The love of money and the casinos will only drive people further into poverty," he warned. "People will start to save money to play in the casinos instead of feeding their families.

"The addiction will become too much; it will result in crime as people start stealing to fuel their addiction. Gambling opens the door to the influx of outsiders who have no fear for God."

Source

• Samoa Observer
• Image: pokies-casinos.com

A Curia poll found support from 87 per cent of respondents as lawmakers prepare to set new rules governing the availability of poker machines.

Across the Auckland region there are 4,183 pokie machines at 305 different venues. In 2011, $245 million dollars was lost on them.

Problem gambling figures suggest that around 40% of that money came from problem gamblers who are usually those who can least afford it.

Opposition to gambling venues has also been revealed in the more than 9,500 submissions received on Auckland Council's proposed policies on TAB and pokie venues.

The council aims to set policies for non-casino pokie venues, with 4069 gambling machines in pubs and clubs across the city.

Local governments are obliged by law to set policies and the new policy was the first chance to have a unified approach across Auckland.

"It's great to see so many people taking the time to make their views known on the subject of gambling," says Councillor Cathy Casey, Chair of the council's Social and Community Development Forum.

"We identified the need to minimise gambling-related harm in the Auckland Plan. These two policies are a way we can achieve that. It is clear from the number of submissions that our communities care very much about gambling in Auckland."

Problem Gambling Foundation national health manager Tony Milne said a sinking-lid policy would stop licences to run pokies being transferred from bars and clubs which closed. "The most powerful submissions come from people who have experienced the harm from pokie machines with accounts of lives … torn apart by pokie machines."

Source

• NZsport.yahoo.com
• The New Zealand Herald
• blog.greens.org.nz
• bobmccroskie.com
• Image: 3News